Adam glared down at her. He could not help the feeling of disappointment that rose in his breast. Gone was the woman who had been so concerned about his mother on the previous evening. She seemed to have been replaced by the Toast of London of the previous weeks. She was still beautiful, and still desirable, but her gentle side was gone.
"I am sorry if my presence offends you," he said stiffly.
"On the contrary," said Allegra, giving him a curious glance. Adam seemed different tonight. He was no longer relaxed and charming, but distant and cold instead. How dare he judge her when he had visited Lady Manning's box at the opera only the night before? "You provide an appropriate note of sobriety to our gathering. Please come in."
Adam came into the room and seated himself gingerly on a spindle-legged chair.
"You know Viscount Havermoor, I believe," said Allegra, indicating the exquisite gallant who was now circling her, conducting a minute inspection with his quizzing glass, "And of course you have met Lord Gresham."
Gresham bowed graciously to Adam. A mocking smile lit his face, and there was a lazily amused expression in his eyes. Adam stiffened. Of all the people he might find in his wife's room, Gresham was the one he wished to see the least.
"Your Grace," said Tristan. "Allow me to compliment you upon your wife's exquisite beauty."
"It isn't my doing," replied Adam grimly. "If I had a wife who was less of a flower, there would be fewer bees buzzing about the house."
Tristan raised one eyebrow, but then apparently decided to interpret the remark as a jest rather than an insult. He laughed. "It's true. Great beauty can be a burden as well as a gift."
"My wife appears to be able to shoulder that burden," said Adam coldly.
Lord Gresham bowed and turned towards Allegra, who was listening to them with an alarmed expression.
"Your husband finds you too beautiful, madam," he said cheerfully. "But I believe that there is no such thing as too much beauty. I feel I am capable of basking in your glow eternally."
"My lord, you shall make my head turn," said Allegra. "And that would not be attractive. Come gentlemen, you are here to provide me with advice. What jewels shall I wear? Do you prefer the diamonds or the emeralds?"
Adam watched as the jeweled sets which had been in his family for generations were produced. The last time he had seen them, four years before, they had graced his mother. His lips tightened as he thought of his mother's devotion to his father. The jewels were, of course, the property of the current Duchess, but it seemed to him that Allegra did not deserve to wear the stones that generations of loving and loyal wives had worn.
Viscount Havermoor argued most volubly in favor of the diamonds, while Lord Gresham felt that the emeralds would be more striking against the gold of Allegra's dress. As they discussed the point, Adam watched silently. Eventually Allegra turned to him with a laugh.
"Adam, I think perhaps you must break this tie. Which do you prefer, the green or the white?"
"It can hardly make any difference," said the Duke. "If you went to this ball wearing glass chips you would doubtless still be admired." The words were flattering, but his tone was not. He stood, obviously angry, and bowed. "I will await you downstairs, ma'am. When you and your company are prepared we shall depart."
Allegra flushed under her powder and turned away with a brittle laugh. The Duke walked grimly from the room and closed the door.
"It seems my husband grows impatient," said Allegra. "I fear he may have to wait some time; we are hardly begun here."
Viscount Havermoor looked aghast. "How churlish of him. If I did not know it was dreadfully unfashionable I would think he was jealous!"
"I doubt it is jealousy," said Allegra, a small catch in her voice. "Adam and I do not have a romantic marriage."
"And a good thing, too," the Viscount assured her. "There is nothing more uncomfortable than love in a marriage. Perhaps Gravesmere has eaten something that does not agree with him."
"If you will forgive me, I am weary of the subject." Allegra turned away to hide her burning cheeks.
Tristan gave her a shrewd look. So the girl cared for her husband, did she? That would make his task harder, but not impossible. She was clearly jealous and headstrong, a volatile combination. "We will attempt to make up for your husband's slights," he said in a gentle tone. "There are many who find you not only beautiful and witty, but kind and generous as well, my lady."
She looked at him gratefully. "Thank you, my lord. And now, gentlemen, we must proceed. We have still to settle the issue of the jewelry, not to mention selecting an appropriate patch."
“Well that must be the highwayman, of course,” replied Gresham with a bit of a smirk.
Allegra barely noticed this sale, and the debate proceeded. But she continued to seem distracted, and when she emerged from her boudoir with her admirers in attendance she was not entirely sure how she was dressed. As she came down the stairs Adam was waiting in the hallway. He looked up as she descended the stairs, and even through the haze of his anger he perceived her beauty. Agitation had brought a delicate flush to her cheeks and her blue eyes sparkled in the candlelight. Emeralds glowed from her golden gown, and her skin was as fair as the lace foaming about her shoulders, and once again he felt a surge of lust.
"My lady," he said coldly. "Your chair awaits."
Allegra lifted her chin and walked past him and out the door. If he could treat her as a troublesome child, then he would feel the sting of her disapproval as well. The Viscount and Lord Gresham followed, exchanging glances, Havermoor’s amused and Gresham's satisfied. All was clearly not well in Gravesmere House.
Their return home that evening was not propitious either. The Dowager Duchess had been at the ball, but had left early, tired of watching Allegra flirt desperately while her son ostentatiously ignored his wife. The newlyweds themselves returned home very late, their anger an almost physical presence between them. They were greeted at the door by a footman, who told them that the Dowager Duchess demanded their immediate presence in her sitting room.
"See what you have done!" exclaimed Adam as they walked up the stairs. "Now your behavior is depriving my mother of her sleep! She isn't a young woman, and you are undermining her health."
"I'm doing nothing of the sort!" retorted Allegra. "Your mother slept quite well until your return, with your sulks and fits."
They entered the room cloaked once more in stony silence and stood facing the Dowager with sullen faces. She took one look at them and sighed heavily.
"I see you're still quarreling," she said. "You're like two mutinous children."
"I expect more from my wife than--" said Adam
"If he cannot understand that I have the right to do as I choose--" burst out Allegra at the same moment. They glared at each other and lapsed into silence.
"Obviously you are unable to settle your differences. I had hopes of you coming to care for each other quickly, but I see that this marriage shall be a struggle. But perhaps I'm foolish to expect you to attend to one another when all the distractions of London are at your feet. I wish you both to cancel your engagements for the week and we will go to Gravesmere tomorrow. Let us see if you like one another better in the country than in the City." Emily nodded severely.
"Cancel my engagements!" cried Allegra. "I can't do that. The Avon's rout is this week, and I am engaged to attend the Opera with the Overtons!"
Adam's mind flew to Louisa. Not only would she not take kindly to a long separation, but he couldn't imagine an entire week of Allegra's frivolity without being able to escape to his mistress's consoling arms.
"Mother, it is the height of the Season. People would be amazed if we suddenly fled town," he protested.
"I don't care what Society thinks. I will not have my son and his wife at loggerheads. Tonight I heard the most foolish gossip, Adam, about your jealousy towards Allegra's beaux. I do not know what gave rise to this, but I will not have you talked about in this low manner. You two will come to
an accommodation. I must confess, I had hoped you might love one another, but if you cannot love, at least you can be polite. We go to Gravesmere in the morning."
"Come morning!" exclaimed Adam. It was already long past midnight, and he could not imagine breaking this news to Louisa in a note.
"Come morning," affirmed the Dowager. "I have already had your maid, Allegra, and your valet, Adam, pack your belongings. The carriage is ordered. We leave at ten-o-clock."
Allegra looked at Emily's stern face and then Adam's rigid spine. She realized that there was no way out of this without being rude to her mother-in-law, of whom she was very fond. It seemed that the best route would be to succumb with good grace. She doubted a week away from the city would improve her relationship with her husband, but she allowed that she could use the rest. And it would separate Adam from that hussy he kept. She almost had to smile when she thought of his discomfiture.
"If that is what you wish, Mama dear," she said demurely, "I shall go. But," she added with a flash at Adam, "don't expect miracles. I doubt Adam in the country will be much more fun than Adam in London."
Adam gave her an angry look. She was not only making him look bad by agreeing to this farcical trip to the country, but she was insulting him as well. But he knew there was no way out of the journey now. He would have to inform Louisa with a note, her reaction to his absence and the means of notification was unlikely to be pleasant.
Suppressing a grimace, he stepped forward and kissed Emily's hand. "As you wish, Mother. I will endeavor to make our stay at Gravesmere a pleasant one." He turned and left the room without a glance at Allegra. She kissed her mother-in-law’s cheek and followed a few paces behind him hearing the door to his room close slightly before she reached hers.
Once inside she sat in silence as her maid undid her elaborate coiffeur, and removed her cosmetics. The stiff gold dress was lifted over her head, and her underdress with its tight stomacher and corset were unlaced and put aside.
“You’re very quiet, my lady,” said Merriwether.
“I was so surprised to learn that we are off to Gravesmere in the morning,” Allegra replied discreetly. “I am thinking of the notes that must be written to my acquaintance.”
Merriwether knelt to undo Allegra’s garters and roll down the beautifully clocked silk stocking Allegra wore “All your beautiful gowns going to waste her in London, while we rusticate during the middle of the Season,” she sniffed. “Seems a shame,” Merriwether continued as she draped a thin negligee foaming with Valenciennes lace over Allegra’s chemise and went to get her a night dress.
The door to the Duke’s suite opened just then, and Allegra started, her jaw dropping, before she hastily snapped it shut. She glanced at the Duke, who, without his wig, evening coat, and lace cravat, and looking less than complaisant, seemed a very different creature.
She turned to her uncertain maid, and said “That will be all, Merriwether.” She watched the maid leave then lifted her eyebrows and in spite of her qualms baldly inquired “What are you doing here?”
“Perhaps I am seeking a moment for a private conversation with my wife,” Adam remarked sarcastically. He paced around the room watching Allegra and went on, “It seems that you are only alone when everyone else is abed.” He couldn’t help noticing the sheerness of her garments, and how enticing she looked with her hair over her shoulders, the lace framing her youthful bosom, and the clinging silk of the negligee outlining her figure. He felt a distinct tightening in his breeches.
Allegra glared at him and unwisely remarked “Perhaps I would rather be alone now as well, if you are determined to be unpleasant as well as jealous.”
“Jealous, madam?” he snapped, “Rather, I expect that you will behave as required by your station, with discretion.”
“You are like a dog with a bone you don’t want, but guarding it anyway,” Allegra cried, “I will not be so constrained by one who seeks his pleasures as he will.”
“Very well, madam, if I am not to seek my pleasures elsewhere, I should most certainly sample those available to me in my home,” he snarled.
Before she realized he was moving, Adam was standing before Allegra at her dressing table, pulling her into his arms. He was strong as well as quick, she noted, as his muscular arms wrapped around her, pulling her close to his body. One hand slid down her back to press her hips against the alarmingly large bulge in his breeches, as he squeezed her bottom. Allegra felt an unbidden thrill as a sudden jolt of pleasure rippled through her. She pushed unavailingly at his firm chest, and felt the warmth and muscles beneath her palms as she tried to break free. A tiny, traitorous wish to run her hands across that chest whispered to her. Adam for his part was astonished by how fast his anger turned to a fire of desire. He pushed his hips against her pelvis, and the gentle feminine swell of her belly and wondered how his fury had transformed instantly to this rampant lust.
Allegra, confused by the unfamiliar sensations gripping her, moaned in response, her eyelids nearly shut as she trembled, stricken by her first real taste of sexual yearning. She instinctively rubbed against him, hitching her hips up to find more contact, and Adam nipped at her ear before taking her lips in a kiss. Allegra’s untutored mouth remained closed, but he teased her with his tongue, while the hand not pressing her hips to his crept up her ribs to lift her breast under the waterfall of lace. As his clever fingers stroked her responsive breast, Allegra gasped beneath his lips and his tongue swept into her mouth. Clearly disoriented by the sudden surge of excitement rushing through her, the pleasure flooding her breast and the clenching desire gripping her, she sagged against his arm.
Adam pivoted with her and walked Allegra the few steps to her bed, with its lace covers and gold embroidered hangings, and put her down on it. Her legs hung down and Adam stepped between them lifting her feet to the edge of the bed. In one movement, he took Allegra’s hands and placed them above her head, pinning them to the coverlet, and with the other he swept aside the thin chemise with the drifts of lace that covered her breasts, and nipped at the delicate pink tips that were thus exposed. He watched the aureoles pucker, and saw the nipples extend, growing longer and harder as he licked and sucked. Allegra rolled her head back and forth, and struggled feebly to free her hands, but she also bucked her hips, seeking the contact that would satisfy her.
Adam pushed up the hem of her chemise to expose her nest of curls, which were a golden copper shade, somewhat darker than her hair. He smiled, and skimmed one hand lightly over them pressing his hand on her lower abdomen, just above the mons. He bent his head to hers and kissed her deeply again, then, satisfied she had no desire to escape, he placed his other hand on her tender inner thigh and caressed it as he moved it upward.
Allegra felt herself melting inside from the heat that trailed from his fingertips as they moved closer to each other and closer to what now felt like an aching furnace of desire. She moved her head back and forth restlessly as Adam bent to her breasts and again took a rosy pink nipple into his mouth, suckling firmly as he continued to caress her tender thighs, fingers moving ever upward towards the spot that seemed to her to be begging him to open it, open her to his touch.
She felt a dart of excitement flash from her breast to her abdomen, tightening and twisting deep in her pelvis with a pulsing rush of heat. She moaned, as Adam abandoned her breast momentarily, only to blow on her moist nipple, stiffening it further, before turning to provide the same thrilling stimulation to the other.
At last Allegra felt his fingers tenderly open her feminine flesh, exposing the moist pink petals to his stimulating touch. As his fingers lightly caressed her creamy and swollen crease, the sudden wave of pleasure Allegra felt frightened her with its intensity, abruptly snapping her back to awareness of the liberties he was taking, and where they were surely leading her.
She struggled to place her hands at her side and sat up, pushing him violently away, as she attempted to cover her thighs with the lacy gown.
“Get out of here,
“she shrieked at him, “I’ll have no more of this vile attempt to seduce me into forgetting your mistress and your habits of libertinism.”
Shocked by Allegra’s sudden switch from a beguiled and beguiling Venus to a raging virago, Adam responded “Seconds ago madam, you had no thought of anything besides how damned good my attentions were making you feel. Let us have no more missish folly about fulfilling your obligations as my wife. It seems quite clear that there will be no hardship to you involved.” He smirked slightly.
Enraged by her own weakness, and nearly hysterical with fury at his remarks, Allegra jumped up and attempted to slap him before Adam realized her intent. He caught her hand and pushed it down and behind her back, gently so as not to injure or hurt her, but with enough strength to make her feel defenseless. Curiously, her desire rose as he demonstrated his physical mastery over her.
“I will leave you,” he muttered, “not because I have to, but because I have no need to force a woman to my will; there are more than enough who would be flattered by my invitation. Nor do I have a taste for the juvenile histrionics you are displaying for my benefit as a follow up to behavior that can only be described as welcoming my actions. Be good enough to let me know when you have made up your mind.”
Allegra stood in silence watching the door close, deep mortification rapidly replacing the desire and fury that had seized her. She burst into tears, and then took to her bed, where she had great difficulty finding the peace of sleep.
The next morning the ornate Gravesmere traveling carriage left London with its cargo. Allegra and Emily were ensconced in the carriage rumbling through the cobbled streets of London; Adam was riding alongside, where he could nurse his temper in peace. Both were rendered sullen by confusion and unsatisfied desire, while the Dowager Duchess watched them sadly.
Chapter 8
Sweet Hatred
Louisa Manning relaxed in her exuberant pink and gold boudoir. She held in her fingers a note from Adam which had been delivered that morning, explaining his disappointment at his hasty departure from London. Even though it had been followed by the delivery from one of London’s best jewelers of an exquisite sapphire bracelet, a small frown marred her lovely features.
A Duchess Enraged Page 9